But BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield thinks that if House Of Cards is a success, Netflix could also start demanding a fee from the broadband suppliers that plug their fat pipes into our homes and let us stream House Of Cards in the first place.

You can read Greenfield’s full report here (subscription required) but his basic idea is that the cable companies are taking about $40 bucks a month from you for your Internet service and not sharing any of that with the content side because for the most part, they are paying networks like AMC and Discovery a per subscriber fee on the cable side.

If Netflix’s exclusive programming takes off and viewers demand it, Netflix could be in a position to start taking a per subscriber fee from the cable guys on the Internet side. It’s not a completely unprecedented idea. According to Greenfield, ESPN gets a per sub fee for ESPN 3 from broadband.

It would be a bold move on Hastings’ part and one that he’s not yet in a position to make. But if shows like House Of Cards help Netflix become the next HBO, the service could be looking at a whole new stream of revenue.